Some perspective from Anthony Dion

Main Menu

Leonardo DiCaprio: “Premier Actor of his Generation”

On the Oprah show on Tuesday afternoon, Kate Winslet commented on her Revolutionary Road (and Titanic) co-star Leonardo DiCaprio:

“If you look at his body of work throughout his career — Gilbert Grape, The Basketball Diaries, Titanic, The Departed, Blood Diamond… you have to say that he is the premier actor of his generation.”

It’s tough to argue with Ms. Winslet especially considering her own acting chops therefore her considerable knowledge of which she speaks as well as firsthand experience working with him. The funny thing is, she failed to mention several other great performances of DiCaprio thus far in his career such as The Aviator, Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can and the recent Body of Lies.

Personally, I have to agree with her. DiCaprio in my mind, is without a doubt the premier actor of his generation. He has all the skills you look for in an actor as well as great character off of the set.

Some of the other actors (of his generation, so 30-40) that you have to consider in this discussion are Jude Law, Ryan Gosling, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Matt Damon and Will Smith. But when you consider pure talent and body of work there’s nobody better than DiCaprio.

And the best part about it is he’s nowhere near finished. In the next couple of years we can look forward to seeing the best of DiCaprio in projects such as Shutter Island, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and The Chancellor Manuscript.

For more on these films or just on Leonardo himself head on over to imdb.com.

Note: The “generation” factor excludes top actors like Johnny Depp, Russell Crowe, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Brad Pitt and others that I normally would have considered. That being said, I’d put DiCaprio in the discussion as everyone of these and when comparing body of work, I’d say only Depp, Hanks and Washington are even or ahead of him.